Journal of Business Administration and Management Sciences (JOBAMS)

Shaping the Human Capital Absorptive Capacity: Role of Artificial Intelligence

Muhammad Mujtaba, Kamran Ahmed Soomro, Sana Mughal — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In Pakistan, engineering industries are far behind in manufacturing products as compared to other industries across the world. One of the major reasons behind this failure is the dearth of specific human capital skills to effectively operate artificial intelligence technology. This research aims to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence on human capital and identify significant skills that increase innovation and productivity. The population of this study was the manufacturing industry, specifically the automobile industry of Pakistan. Data were collected through closed-ended questionnaires from those employees who were engaged with artificial intelligence-related projects. Results indicate that artificial intelligence has a positive impact on human capital. The computer, mathematics, and robotic-mechanical associated skills are essential for the effective utilization of this technology towards improving the innovation and productivity of firms. This research is useful for manufacturing organizations to understand the significant relationship between artificial intelligence and human capital. Further, it provides HR Managers with a list of indispensable skills to train their employees to effectively and efficiently deal with artificial technology to increase innovation and productivity in their firms. Moreover, the model of this study opens new avenues for researchers to expand their research work to identify others' human capital skills to increase the performance of the organizations. This is one of the few research studies that have been conducted in the context of Pakistan. It will help to improve human capital skills according to the necessity of the business environment.

Mapping The Landscape of Sustainable Finance: A Systematic and Bibliometric Review

Anam Qamar, Abdur Rahman Aleemi, Muhammad Azeem Qureshi — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The notion of sustainable finance has gained immense importance both at academic and practitioner levels. The increasing regulatory requirements to implement sustainable finance within the financial framework are becoming stringent. This study aims to assess the evolvement of sustainable finance as a field of interest overt the time period ranges 2010-2024. For this purpose, systematic review along with bibliometric analysis have been performed following SPAR-4-SLR protocol in which 867 articles were selected from the Scopus database and systematically reviewed through performance analysis and science mapping using VOSviewer and the R-package. The findings resulted into four major themes in the context of sustainable finance primarily focused on sustainable development, sustainable finance, climate change, environmental policy, green finance.

Does Family Ownership moderate the relationship between Corporate Governance and Integrating Reporting Practices: A case of Non-Financial Firms in Pakistan

Muhammad Naeem, Anita Larik, Salman Memon, Muhammad Rafique Shaikh — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Financial scandals and a decline in stakeholders' trust in the transparency of financial reporting from firms have been caused by ineffective oversight, a weak corporate governance system, and concentrated ownership, particularly family ownership and its involvement in firm affairs. Implementing an effective corporate governance practice and integrated reporting in this context is important to reducing these issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of corporate governance on integrated reporting and the moderating role of family ownership. Sixty-four non-financial firms were selected as samples registered on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) from 2016 to 2023. The impact of corporate governance indicators, i.e., board size, board independence, board meetings, and CEO duality, is estimated on the integrated reporting index. We develop an integrated reporting index by calculating the weighted mean of thirty integrated reporting variables. This study applied the fixed-effect technique to test this regression model. The results showed that board meetings positively impact integrated reporting, while board size, CEO duality, and board independence have a negative effect on integrated reporting quality. We also find that family ownership moderates this relationship. In addition, the results show that Pakistan-based firms have been consistently enhancing their reporting quality by increasing the number of integrated reporting attributes by respecting the principle of disclosures in their annual reports, which depict notions of accountability and transparency, to develop trust with stakeholders. For practitioners, such as investors, regulators, and other stakeholders of the firm, our study adds new perspectives to corporate governance practices and integrated reporting. Also, the implications of the study contribute to the academic debates of corporate governance practices and integrated reporting.

An Examination of the Impact of Diversity Management and Inclusive Leadership on Retention and Performance in the Banking Sector of Rural Sindh

Azhar Hussain Soofi, Safdar Nadeem Ch., Naba Shahid, Hajira Mangi — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study empirically investigates the impact of structured diversity management and inclusive leadership on employee retention and team performance in the banking sector of rural Sindh which is highly dominated by tribal culture, lacks women work force (16.3%), and contends with challenges stemming from geographical isolation. Employing quantitative data on 350 employees (in 6 districts i.e. Jacobabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Sanghar), regression models became applicable to understand the effects of structured diversity efforts (e.g. fair hiring, ERGs created through a digital platform) on turnover intention (β = 0.756, p < 0.001) and team performance (β = 0.806, p < 0.001), explaining 76% and 65% Complementary yet smaller effects were shown when it came to inclusive leadership (retention: 0.262; performance: 0.193). There was almost a perfect relation between performance and retention (r = 0.876) proving the fact that employee stability is the basis of operational efficiency. Results show that within exclusionary environments, diversity programs are proving to have exponential returns and inclusive leadership is a cultural enricher. Study calls on hyper-localized policy (e.g., Sindhi-language training, gender-norm-sensitive interventions), and digital solution to fill the gaps in implementation. Such limitations are sampling restrictions and cross-sectional design.

Perceived Overqualification and Employee Development: Mediating Role of Peer Social Comparison and Moderating Influence of Work-Group Inclusion

Humera Abdul Hakeem, Tariq Hameed Alvi, Samia Tariq — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the paradoxical nature of perceived overqualification. Building on social cognitive career theory, it proposes the two dimensions of peer social comparison (abilities and opinions) as underlying mechanisms between perceived overqualification and investment in employee development. In addition, it investigates the moderating effect of work-group inclusion. The time-lagged data was collected from 202 employees working in Pakistan software development firms (a.k.a. software houses). PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling) was employed to analyze it. The findings showed both dimensions of peer social comparison, i.e., abilities and opinions, to mediate the relationship between perceived overqualification and investment in employee development. Specifically, overqualified employees perceive the likelihood of investment in employee development through ability comparison. In contrast, making an opinion comparison leads them to believe that their organization didn’t invest in their development. Additionally, work-group inclusion weakens the perceived overqualification’s positive impact on peer social opinion comparison. Meanwhile, work-group inclusion could not moderate the relationship in the case of peer social ability comparison

The study's findings showed that peer social comparison has a dual mediating effect. Perceived overqualification increases the likelihood of investment in employee development through ability comparison. But when opinion comparison is made, overqualified employees’ cognition leads them to think that employer didn’t invest in employee development. Additionally, work-group inclusion moderately weakens the perceived overqualification’s positive impacts on peer social opinion comparison. Meanwhile, work-group inclusion had an insignificant positive moderation on POQ and ability comparison relationship.